Born to Joyce Leon, née Poole, an accountant, and Gardner Burnett Gilliam, a merchant marine.
Former stepmother of actress Mackenzie Phillips.
Grandmother of Jamison Baldwin.
Grew up partly in Mexico City where her father attended college on the GI Bill.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 (as a member of The Mamas and the Papas).
Mother-in-law of actor William Baldwin.
Ranked #23 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll
Sang at Denny Doherty's funeral, whose death made her the only surviving member of The Mamas and the Papas (2007).
The wildly popular The Mamas and the Papas '60s pop/folk group ("Monday, Monday" and "California Dreamin'" were their biggest hits) was comprised of Michelle and her husband at the time, John Phillips, along with 'Mama' Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty. Michelle was temporarily kicked out of the group (replaced by Jill Gibson) after it was discovered she was having an affair with the other "Papa" (Doherty), who Cass had a crush on. The fans, however, missed her and she was soon brought back, but the damage had been done and the group wasted no time in splitting up.
Was good friends with the Charles Manson victims Sharon Tate, Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring and Voytek Frykowski.
Was married to Dennis Hopper for 8 days.
When The Mamas and the Papas were in the Bahamas and couldn't afford the flight back to the US, she won 17 straight shoots at a crap table, coming out with enough money to buy first-class airplane tickets for everybody.
When she was 5 and her sister was 6, their mother died and they and their father moved to Mexico City.